The Soul Factor: Why Huffington's Thrive Is a Bestseller

Over Arianna Huffington’s decades-long career in the public eye, we have mostly seen her as a bold, take-no-prisoners kind of leader with the grit and determination to rise to the top. You may not have connected with her personally, but you respect her gumption and commitment to success.

In Thrive we are introduced to a soulful leader passionate about her mighty cause: Measuring success in more than just money and power. We hear her authentic voice as she shares deeply personal stories of her own skin in the game (like when she collapsed and hit her head from exhaustion and lack of sleep) and why it is so important for her to share this message (it was how her mother lived, for one).

In Thrive, Huffington embodies what I call Leading with Soul. By showing her values and her personal investment in her mighty cause, her noble calling, she is building trust and commitment to the ideas she espouses. And more than her already huge following and larger than life public persona, I believe it is Huffington’s “soul” that is driving the success of her new book.

The most frequently asked question I get from top-level leaders is “How can I inspire trust? I tell them it’s about Leading with Soul—meaning what you say and saying something meaningful.

Trust come from being transparent even if—especially if—it exposes your vulnerability. You may think people don’t care what you as a leader feels and that vulnerability is a sign of weakness. But you’re wrong. Passion and skin in the game are what inspires. If you are genuinely committed and personally invested in a cause, then it lowers the bar for the people you lead to get on board.

Does your message pass the “soul” test?

The next time you have to give a speech or a presentation in which you want to inspire your audience, make sure your words have the “soul” factor. Ask yourself:

Am I explaining how my audience will benefit from pursuing the vision?

Pro tip: Make sure to use the personal pronoun “I” whenever you want to inspire. Remember, soulful leadership is about meaning what you say. Using “I” opens a window into the soul and shows that you are owning your words and your message.

*******

Dr. Kathy Cramer has written seven best-selling books including Change The Way You See Everything, which started the ABT Global Movement. Her latest book, Lead Positive shows leaders how to increase their effectiveness through her revolutionary yet refreshing simple mindset management process, Asset-Based Thinking. Download her Speaker Kit here.

Huffington admits that she worked herself into such a level of exhaustion that she collapsed and broke her cheekbone on the corner of her desk and could have died. By her exhaustive efforts, however, she made herself disgustingly rich and famous, which was the point of all of her hard work. She had defined success as being rich and famous, and by the current definition, she achieved success. Once she made it to a point where she could relax and write a book that reaches the top of the charts because she's Arianna Huffington and can ride on the fame of her name, she had a sudden epiphany that she should dial back her life and enjoy her family, pamper herself, and give to charity. How nice that must be, and how utterly possible, now that she's disgustingly rich and famous. She doesn't have to work another day in her life BECAUSE she nearly killed herself building her empire. That's how it works. I will never believe that she would be who she is and have the wealth and fame that she has if she had redefined success BEFORE she got where she is.

figure items distress as i along to our network fill establishment to ordering considerably chicken mash on any other chickens two, Abby and consequently bella swan, and i discovered he is putting up for sale far eastern Silkie chicks.